Sunday, July 20, 2014

Straight Hair, Sprite Bus and Cute Cosmetics (also, Happy 11 Months!)

Oh geez, I nearly posted this before I remembered this crazy fact. I almost forgot to mention that I've been in Korea for 11 months! Can you believe it?!?!?!? I can't believe the time went so quickly!! Aaaah!!

You know the drill. With everyone busy with camp plans and getting ready to go home, it was another hectic week and low key weekend for me. I worked on camp and final week lesson plans (the semester ends this friday, then I have camp for 2 weeks) for most of my free time this week, as well as attending Korean class. My adventure this week was getting my hair done!

Because my curly hair hides my roots, I go about twice as long as you should for highlights. Most people should go in every 6 weeks, but I can wait about 12-13 before it's annoyingly noticeable to me (most of my friends say I could probably go longer, since they barely notice it). I really enjoyed the salon I went to last time, Lucy Hair in Sinchon. She did a combo of blonde highlights and a few caramel lowlights, and it looks really natural and awesome. My first two highlight jobs at another salon were alright, but a little bit too blonde, and it was starting to look too fake. With Lucy's excellent care, the blending is really good and it looks super awesome. I'm a happy returning customer!

Unfortunately, getting my hair done does take a while. This is the process.

Getting ready. Not my greatest style

all foiled up

They don't use heat lamps to accelerate the process
for highlights here, so it takes a while
for them to get to the right color

Then I got a lovely hair washing. Man, I love that part. If I could just go pay for a head massage/hair washing by itself, I'd do it at least once a week. It's my favorite part of the haircut.

It's a fun time, now that I'm accustomed to
getting a vacuum bag placed on my head

The finished product! Looks nice, right?

So I got to confuse my students again this week, who still don't grasp the concept of having temporarily straight hair and permanent curly hair, since their's is the exact opposite. I do tend to enjoy the surprise and awe that I get from all of my students and coworkers when I walk in with completely different hair. I even heard two sixth grade girls whisper "진짜 섹시!" (jinjja sexshi= really sexy) on my way to school!! Haha!

It also sparks the "your hair looks prettier straight/curly" debate, which I don't much enjoy. When my students complain that my hair goes back to curly, I ask them "What, curly isn't pretty?" and then give them a sad face. They usually backtrack and say something like 'No, curly is beautiful! But straight is more beautiful!'

Pro tip: Don't tell a girl "wow, your hair looks so much better that way!" if she straightens her hair. I think you mean it as a compliment, but all I hear is "the way you wear your hair normally looks like crap." Just say that it's different and really nice, but try not to insult the curly in the process. I let my students slide because of the language barrier and cultural exposure, but from other people, I'm not as thrilled.

My handler said she likes curly better, and truthfully, I do too. I also asked my friends what they thought, and my friend Janell told me this:

d'aaaww, thanks girl!

So that was my hair endeavor. The color looks great, and I'm back to my normal, crazy, curly hair.

The rest of the week past quickly in a blur of lesson planning, camp planning and Korean classes.

I get stuck behind ahjummas on the way to
school all the time -__-

My newest theory is that ahjummas are like gases: they expand to fill whatever surface they are walking on. Seriously, walk behind two of them sometime. They'll fan out to take up the most space on the sidewalk possible, making it extremely difficult if not impossible to pass them. ARG. Korean couples also tend to do this. How they manage to block the entire sidewalk, I have no idea.

How to dress casual chic. Protip: not like this.
avoid at all costs. Korea has weird shirts

There's a pet store near my Korean class
and Lauren and I had to stop and look at
this adorable little guy

Cesca also sent me some pictures of Nymeria being adooooooorable and sleeping in the bread basket. I miss my bambinaaaa.

Oh, I'm sorry, did you need to use this, human?

I had a quiet weekend this week. I stayed late at school Friday finishing some camp stuff and visa renewal things, since my handler is out of town for the next few weeks. She's going to take an English class to improve her skills. She's a really good speaker already, but I'm excited for her to take this course, because she's really happy about it. Unfortunately, that means I have to teach 5th grade alone this week. Oh joy. Not that I don't love them, but the students tend to be unruly and pretend they don't understand simple English when my co teachers leave the room. WAMP. You've been studying English for at least 2 years. I know you understand "SIT DOWN!"

Anywho, since I got home late and didn't feel like cooking in my 90 degree kitchen, I stopped for some Korean takeout. I couldn't decide what I wanted, and I figured I could use the leftovers this weekend, so I ordered a bunch of food. I even communicated to the guy that he shouldn't bother with the side dishes, since I don't eat kimchi. Even though ordering food isn't that hard, I was so happy I did it all in Korean!

GIANT OMURICE!!! Sooo yummy.

deokbokki made with giant ricecakes,, instead of the
thin ones. There's a piece of fried mandu and
a hard boiled egg in there too. YUM.

Mandu! This is seafood mandu and
it was a little spicy, but deliiiicious.

But, because I ordered so much, the man clearly assumed this was for more than one person. Nooope.

Loling at how many chopsticks the guy gave
me for my order. He actually gave me 4 sets.
Not sure how I should feel.
#allbymyself

The week was so busy (I was at work late a couple of days, and I had my hair appointment, plus the usual 3 Korean classes. I also went to the dentist- cavity free, yay!!!) so I spent much of the weekend at home, sleeping in, doing a deep cleaning of my house, reorganizing my bathroom, closet and kitchen, as well as doing some pretty intense blogilates workouts. I also marathoned at least a season of Breaking Bad, since the rest of my family has already watched it. SO BEHIND THE CURVE.

I'm nearly done with season 3. Woop woop!

Oh, and I did a lot of online shopping for things I'll need for when Cesca gets here, like a floor mattress (which I should have bought earlier, since my friends sleep over occastionally...), some pillows and other things. yay Gmarket, the Amazon.com of Korea. The stuff will be at my door in like 2 days. And shipping, if there is any, is like, make 2,500 won, which is about $2.50. Aaaaah Korea, there are some things I just simply adore about you...

On Sunday, I got myself out of bed and headed to Myeongdong for a quick shopping trip to stock up on some essentials.

I saw matching sibling clothes. Probably in case
one gets lost, they can say "We're missing a kid.
He's wearing this exact outfit."

Sunday is also Jesus day in Myeongdong,
where you'll see a bunch of these guys
wandering around. Yay Jesus.

Wooot summer sales. Trying to resist buying
too much tho

On my way home, I apparently snagged the Sprite bus, featuring Suzy from Miss A.

It almost worked, too. I very nearly stopped
at the store near my house to grab a sprite.
But I resisted. Because soda is pointless.

Sooo, what did I buy? Not much today, because I am gonna wait till Cesca gets here to take her on a big shopping spree, but I did hit up Forever 21 for some new workout shorts. Soon, I'll be able to skip heading all the way out to Myeongdong for their stuff, because they're building one in Hongdae!!! yay!!! Can't wait!!!

I also needed a few cosmetic things, like new eyeliner and face masks. And of course, other cute Korean cosmetics!!

This is supposed to lighten the circles
under your eyes, that's why it's a
"Panda's Dream." I mostly bought it cause
it is SO CUTE.

I also needed cleansing wipes, and why by normal cheap ones from the grocery store, when you can go to a cosmetics shop and buy really nice smelling ones?

These smell suuuuuper nice and flowery.
I love cosmeticsin Korea. Everything is adorable,
functional and awesome. My skin is looking
crazy good here.

They had a bunch of cute things. I'm tempted to go back after payday for more panda themed items. Especially since there are dozens of cosmetics shops in Korea and all of them have awesome and adorable items.

I also bought bread. Because I needed bread. For breakfast. So interesting.

That's it for this week. I've got an easy end of the semester week ahead, complete with a teacher's trip to see some musical I won't understand, and payday, which means I will probably celebrate with my friends by getting barbecue. Mmmm.

Lots of love to everyone who's supported me during these last 11 months. Can't wait to share 11+ more months of adventures with you!

Because it's the end of the semester, I have lots of classes cancelled. I still have to teach a couple though, which means it's time for time wasters! This means games and videos for most of the classes, and so 6th grade is no exception. Because their level of English is higher, and because they're starting to be really into kpop, I modified a Kpop slam for them. A kpop slam is a game where I give them the English lyrics of a kpop song (so, so many kpop songs use random English in their chorus or haphazardly throughout the song), and they have to guess the song.

As such, I spent a good few hours this week editing video clips of dozens of kpop songs. This particular one happened to get stuck in my head, so enjoy.

Apink is very popular with my students, and I like them because they're adorable and not oversexualized, unlike some groups like Girl's Day, whom I just edited out of the game because their dances were a little too much for me to show 6th graders in English class. If they see it on their own time, it's one thing, but I will not be showing too much hip thrusting (male or female) in my classes.

Anywho, the song is adorable and catchy. It's supposed to sound like you- they sing things like "every day wit chu" which I would translate to "Every day with you." Not sure if it's the result of or satire of the pronunciation of you. Whatever. I still love it. Enjoy!

About Me

I'm a short Italian girl with big dreams and a passion for travelling. I love Phantom of the Opera, video games, chocolate, my twin sister, and making witty remarks and funny faces.
I'm currently teaching English at an elementary school in Seoul, South Korea.